Highlight Heroes & Blooper Legends: College football Week 7 edition
By Justin Perez
Week 7 was full of excitement as some of the biggest games of the year took place. However, not every game went perfectly and some had a few awe-inspiring moments.
The early noon matchup between Washington and Iowa was a laugher, literally and figuratively. This game was a blowout but had some wacky and confusing moments. Take for instance the end of the first half. We had a couple of field goal attempts with some controversy. Was this 34-yard attempt by Washington's Grady Gross good? He didn't seem to think it went through. You be the judge.
After Washington might have gotten away with something there, Iowa's Kaleb Johnson immediately put Iowa in field goal range. He busted a crazy 53-yard run, as he shifted by multiple Husky defenders. His cut-back ability is insane. Johnson had a marque showing, scoring three touchdowns.
Again, was this field goal by Iowa kicker Drew Stevens good? This was a 46-yard attempt from the left hash. This was extremely close. If you listen closely, not even the crowd was fully certain if the kick went through. The body language from Stevens says it all.
And also, you have to watch yourself, ref. Who knows maybe he wanted to be a part of the play.
Despite, Washington getting blown out, Denzel Boston had himself another highlight. In the second quarter, he caught this amazing pass by Will Rogers on a fade route. Boston is one of UW's top receivers this season. This was his ninth touchdown reception.
While Wake Forest got blown out by No. 10 Clemson. Horatio Fields shined bright. He was their biggest bright spot, catching three passes for 48 yards. One of those receptions was this insane 31-yard catch over a Clemson defender to score the first touchdown for the Demon Deacons.
Miami of Ohio didn't need much time to get on the board in their matchup with MAC rival Eastern Michigan. The RedHawks opened the contest with a quick strike from Brett Gabbert to Reggie Virgil. The 75-yard play happened 10 seconds into the game. This was one of two touchdown catches by Virgil.
Wisconsin steamrolled their way to an easy win over Rutgers in a Big Ten Conference matchup. The Badgers had no trouble and had some fun in Piscataway. Wisconsin started their scoring avalanche early in the first quarter. Wideout Will Pauling caught this crisp 16-yard pass from Braedyn Locke.
In the second quarter, Australian punter Atticus Bertrams booted the perfect punt. It took the perfect bounce and Wisconsin's punt coverage was... perfect. This is how you keep your opponent deep in their own territory.
Running back Tawee Walker had himself a day. He ran the ball 24 times for 198 yards and three touchdowns. His final score was this 55-yard scamper, right down the middle of the line.
Week seven was a weird one if you're a Missouri fan. The Tigers played UMass... on the road. It should be the other way around but regardless, the expected result came to fruition. Mizzou didn't break a sweat against the lowly Minutemen. Superstar Luther Burden broke out another phenomenal play, taking his only score 61 yards to the house, to start Mizzou's bounce-back victory.
UMass has its time in the spotlight as well, even if it was for a brief moment. Late in the first half, with the Minutemen trailing by 18, Don Brown called a fake punt. It was a success as defensive back Te'Rai Powell, ran 39 yards to give his team a conversion. It wouldn't amount to much, unfortunately. UMass reached the Mizzou 5-yard line before Taisun Phommachanh threw an interception.
Army has joined Indiana as the second team to become bowl-eligible this year. In their dominating win over UAB, the Black Knights quarterback Bryson Daily shined once again. He ran for 136 yards and four touchdowns. Look at this stiff arm he put on UAB's OC Brothers for this 29-yard score.
He also threw this beauty to wide receiver Casey Reynolds late in the second quarter. This wa a 50-yard touchdown strike.
Alabama looks to be sleepwalking or something. A week after they shockingly lost to Vanderbilt, they barely avoided a home-upset loss to South Carolina.
Jalen Milroe has gone from a top Heisman candidate to potentially being out of consideration. He did throw for 209 yards and a score but also threw two hideous interceptions, like this one. Not the right time to throw into double coverage with your team trailing in the fourth quarter.
Going back to Winston-Salem for a moment, Clemson pulled off a slick trick play in their blowout win over Wake Forest. In the third quarter, Cade Klubnik threw a screen pass over to Antonio Williams. He, in turn, fired to Jake Briningstool for a 28-yard score.
Yes, Kent State had some neat highlights against Ball State. Both of their top plays came in the fourth quarter. With just over six minutes remaining, Tommy Ulatowski launched a 63-yard bomb to Chrishon McCray. McCray reached out and made a one-handed grab and ran in for the touchdown.
Moments later, McCray found himself in the endzone again. He compiled a collection of sweet moves and got by several Ball State defenders for the final of his three touchdowns this game.
Staying in the MAC, Buffalo wide receiver JJ Jenkins made a crazy catch against Toledo. Early in the third quarter, CJ Ogbonna threw a pass to Jenkins along the far sideline. Jenkins proceeded to leap and place his hands perfectly in position to make the catch. He did this with a defender draped over him.
In that same game, Toledo's Jejuan Newton had a nice play himself. Later in the third quarter, backup John Alan Richter threw a dart to Newton near the far sideline. Newton made the catch and pulled off a quick spin to get past a Bulls defender and finish the scoring play.
Cam Rising made his return from an injury against Arizona State. It's clear he wasn't close to being 100% ready for this game. Utah lost to the unranked Sun Devils. Rising had a rough day. He threw three interceptions and struggled to get throws off. Take a look a this clip.
It's safe to say Utah's coaching staff did Rising and the team a disservice by trotting him out there.
Some of his throws were a bit comical to see. However, this was a day to forget for Utah's longtime quarterback.
Following Arizona State's upset win over No. 16 Utah, head coach Kenny Dillingham stole the spotlight. He gave the country one of, if not, the funniest moment in college football this week. He's the youngest coach at the FBS level at just 34 years old. He showed that here. He's still a kid at heart.
Georgia Tech defeated North Carolina on one of the craziest plays this season. With the score tied at 24 with under 30 seconds left, Jamal Haynes had the scamper of his life. He took this carry and ran 68 yards, right through the middle of UNC's horrendous defense, for the winning score.
Also, what the hell is Mack Brown doing here? Coach, go get some tissues instead. That's nasty! Where are you, in the kindergarten? This picture sums up North Carolina's year in a nutshell.
UCF made plenty of mistakes in their loss to Cincinnati last Saturday. Running back Johnny Richardson was the culprit of both UCF's turnovers. Both came on back-to-back possessions. This one was worse as it happened deep in UCF territory. Cincinnati would get a field go out of this.
Iowa State faced off against West Virginia this past weekend. Jaylin Noel scored the Cyclones' first touchdown on this sweet play. This was a perfect dart thrown by Rocco Becht. This was a 60-yard play early in the second quarter.
UL-Monroe's Ahmad Hardy had a wonderful performance in their win over Southern Mississippi. He rushed for 121 yards and two touchdowns. However, it was this catch that he made in the third, that ended up being his best play. He broke multiple tackles and forced his way inside USN's 10-yard line.
Late in the fourth quarter of their Mountain West showdown with Colorado State, San Jose State defensive back DJ Harvey made an incredible play. He picked off Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi. However, he did it while backing up in coverage. Harvey leaped in the air, outstretched his arms, and made the play.
Cal suffered another tough loss this week against Pitt. After blowing a 25-point lead against Miami last week, Cal went on the road and smelled an upset over the undefeated No. 22 Pitt Panthers. The difference in the outcome was two points. That would've changed if Ryan Coe made this 40-yard field goal down the middle. Instead, he hooked it a little to the right. Tough break.
San Diego State rallied from a touchdown deficit to beat Wyoming in Laramie. With the Aztecs leading by a field goal late in the fourth quarter, Ryan Henderson notched this big sack on Evan Svoboda. He brought him down with aggression and this forced a Cowboy punt.
Northern Illinois defeated Bowling Green by 10 points in a MAC showdown. With the game already in hand, head coach Thomas Hammock was showing off his dance moves on the sideline. We need former NBA star Antoine Walker to join him in doing a shimmy.
Quinn Ewers returned this past Saturday in the Red River Rivalry against Oklahoma. He missed the last two games after suffering an abdominal strain in their week three win over UTSA.
In his return, he did a fine job, completing 20 of his 29 pass attempts for 199 and a touchdown. However, he also had this bad pick on his first drive back. Of course, the overreactions for Arch Manning to come in started pouring in, hilariously.
The Longhorns did pull this great trick play. With the game already decided in the fourth quarter, Matthew Golden launched a flea-flicker to Gunnar Helm. It was a bad throw but Helm made an amazing catch over two Oklahoma defenders.
Going back to the campus of UL-Monroe for a second, Southern Miss had a few neat plays of their own, despite a loss. Late in the first half, Ethan Crawford delivered a pretty dart to Dannis Jackson. This 47-yard catch was Jackson's only reception of the game. This set up a field goal.
Late in the third quarter, the Warhawks attempted a 42-yard field goal from the left hash. Southern Miss' DeMeco Roland swooped in and blocked the kick. Braxton Myers scooped the ball off the ground and ran the other way for a score.
Penn State got a great challenge from USC last Saturday. Tight end Tyler Warren became the star of the show in the win. Early in the third quarter, down 20-6, Penn State ran a double pass play. Drew Allar caught the first pass and launched a bomb towards the endzone. Warren, with a defender on him, made the catch to score Penn State's first touchdown.
What makes Warren's heroics more impressive is that he started the play. He lined up as the center before running the route and catching the pass. What a play!
Purdue dropped to 1-5 in a loss to Illinois. However, they lost in overtime. The thing is that it shouldn't have even gone to overtime. With five minutes left in the final period, Illinois led 40-28. Purdue would score a touchdown with 1:35 left to cut their lead to five. Then, Spencer Porath booted an onside kick. Tarrion Grant did the rest.
Three plays later, Devin Mockobee caught a touchdown to put Purdue up by three. Unfortunately, it didn't last long. However, this was a crazy sequence of events.
BYU rolled over Arizona for an easy win last Saturday. Late in the fourth quarter, BYU had some sweet defensive plays. With the game already decided, more insult was added to injury for Arizona. The first was Sam Vander Haar's masterful pinning job inside Arizona's 5-yard line.
Four plays later, Noah Fifita threw a pick-six to Isaiah Glasker that served as the exclamation point. This was Fifita's third interceptions of the game.
New Mexico enjoyed a dominant win over Air Force which is now the Lobos' second win of the year. UNM had a collection of great plays in this contest. However, there were two that stood out. The first was this 22-yard reception by Nic Trujillo in the first quarter. All he needed was one hand, turning around in the process.
Then, early in the second quarter, Luke Wysong extended the Lobo lead. He took this punt 79 yards for a touchdown. The last time UNM had a punt return for a score was three years ago, courtesy of Wysong. This tied for the third-longest punt return in New Mexico history.
Mississippi State could be the worst team in the SEC. However, they still gave No. 5 Georgia fits. The contest was surprisingly close and didn't get out of hand. Georgia was up by two scores with under two minutes left. However, the Bulldogs still played. Michael Van Buren Jr. found Kelly Akharaiyi with this amazing dime down the right sideline.
Also, Kirby Smart came so close to becoming the next Woody Hayes. He avoided a lawsuit. The devil was calling here.
FAU suffered a close loss to North Texas last Saturday. However, QB Cam Fancher had a solid performance. While he did throw an interception, Fancher tossed for 351 yards and three touchdowns. His first scoring toss was a beauty, threading the needle while off his backfoot.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the spectrum, North Texas had a neat touchdown pass of their own. The Mean Green opened the scoring on this dart by Chandler Morris. While scrambling, Morris threw a dangerous pass to Dalton Carnes. Carnes snagged up with a defender blowing by him and crossed the plane.
Also, later in the quarter, FAU had a terrible muffed punt. North Texas took advantage.
Oregon took down Ohio State in what could be the best game of the regular season. The hype was justified. However, some of the most memorable moments were weird. Take for instance this onside kick the Ducks pulled off. The ball bounced off an Ohio State player before getting recovered by Oregon.
Then, early in the second quarter, Traeshon Holden decided to become disrespectful He spit in the face of Ohio State's Davison Igbinosun. This, while funny, is highly despicable. I challenge Holden to go out in the street and do this to a random guy. Chances are, he'll get rocked.
Even more crazy is him acting like this after getting ejected. Does this man have accountability? The answer needs to be known.
Also, what is Will Howard doing?
Fresno State played future PAC-12 rival Washington State last Saturday. They suffered a close loss. They came close to giving the Cougars their second loss. Mikey Keene's rainbow lob to Josiah Freeman in the first period got Fresno State on the board.
Late in the second quarter, Washington State was threatening to increase their lead. Dean Clark got in the way of a John Mateer pass. He picked off the pass and got flipped due to a collision with a teammate.
Also, we had a puppy sighting in Silicon Valley.
We had a wild one in Boulder. If you want a guaranteed classic, just watch whoever Colorado is playing. It seems like every game they play will have some crazy finish. There was that and some epic follies that would have a person on the ground, dying of laughter. Case in point, Shilo Sanders. He was trying to make a tackle on DJ Giddens. Needless to say, it didn't go well. Rest in peace to Shilo's ankles.
How about his brother? Well, Shedeur had the biggest brain fart in the history of human life. With Colorado threatening to score, he did this. Regardless of the outcome. Shedeur deserved to win MVP of the game just for this.
All jokes aside, the Buffaloes did pull off a crazy comeback. Trailing by 10 heading into the fourth, they slowly got back into the game. Eventually, with four minutes left, Colorado needed a stop down three. Kansas State was in field goal range yet they decided to go for it on a 4th-and-6. It was a bad choice as Colton Hood picked it off. He almost ran back for the score but he tripped over Preston Hodge's foot. There's another folly, even during a major play.
A few moments later, LaJohntay Wester caught a Shedeur throw, spun around, and reached the endzone to give the Buffs a lead. Game over, right?
The answer to the previous question is a loud NO! After Colorado took the lead, Kansas State came right back and answered. All it took was three plays to exploit a broken Buffalo defense. Jayce Brown went deep and did this. These were the winning points.
Ole Miss and LSU had a game for the ages. Unfortunately, this was overshadowed by the Ohio State vs Oregon game. However, for those who chose this over the other option, they were treated to a classic. Both teams had amazing moments. Ole Miss' Ulysses Bentley raced for this 50-yard touchdown as he found his way through a hole.
Then, late in the first half, Jaxson Dart threw just that to Tre Harris for his only touchdown pass of the game. He threaded the needle on this speedball.
LSU, shining moment came in overtime. Grant Nussmeier threw a back-shoulder pass to Kyren Lacy to win the game. All that was needed was one play.
By the way, look who it is. It's the diesel himself. Shaq decided to pay a visit to his alma mater and bring some thunder, and a snack. There are not many people who bring smiles to others instantly but the big fella is one of them.
Georgia Southern experienced one of their most memorable moments in school history this past Saturday. Down by 20 points with seven minutes left, the Eagles staged a furious rally. JC French threw this pass down the far sideline to Dalen Cobb, who made this crazy adjustment to come up with the catch.
French left the game in the fourth quarter after taking a nasty hit. In stepped Dexter Williams, who ignited the turnaround. With just over a minute left, he lofted over this throw to Derwin Burgess, who made the diving grab to make the winning play.
No. 8 Tennessee struggled mightily against Florida at home. One of the reasons was the subpar performance of quarterback Nico Iamaleava. In the game, he threw for only 169 yards, no touchdowns, and this hideous interception. Where was he looking at?
Also, outside the stadium, before kickoff, Vols fans were showing their 'love' for Florida. They appreciate the Gators so much that they brought out a casket to mourn their death. Also, a fan was enjoying the deliciousness of where their fallen comrades came from.
Louisiana defeated Appalachian State by 10 points last Saturday. In the game, receiver Terrance Carter led the team in receiving yards with 107 yards. His longest catch was this 74-yard grab which he ran for a score. Three defenders had a shot at bringing him down but couldn't stop Carter.
Late in the second quarter, Kanye Robinson had an answer. He caught an underthrown ball and broke at least two tackles on his way to the endzone.
Diego Pavia might be the biggest reason for Vanderbilt's sudden turnaround. A week after leading his team to their biggest win in school history, he led them to another signature win over Kentucky to improve their record to 4-2. On their first score, Pavia showed his maturity as a passer, avoiding a pass rush, and staying patient while surveying his options. Great throw on the run.
Late in the fourth quarter, Kentucky's Barion Brown made this amazing toe-drag catch.
Rice enjoyed a crazy and dramatic win over UTSA over the weekend. In the game, E.J. Warner, son of NHL hall of famer Kurt, threw two touchdown passes. His first scoring toss came on this 69-yard play. Running back Dean Connors switched the gears and turned up the speed.
Then, with four seconds left, Warner hooked up with Matt Sykes and did this. To make it even more crazy, Sykes bobbled the ball before coming down with it.
If you want more speed, then check out Nevada quarterback Brendon Lewis. Against Oregon State, the Wolfpack signal-caller ran 67 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter. This would put the game out of reach for the Beavers.
Kyle McCord had a great performance against NC State. The passer threw for 346 yards and two touchdowns. One score came on a fourth down inside the Wolfpack 5-yard line. He squeezed this throw to Jackson Meeks. This put the game out of reach for an NC State comeback.
To conclude, enjoy the great intro of a Hawaii game. There's nothing like this in college football.